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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 July 2020
The objective of this study was to simulate the aqueous corrosion of the nuclear waste glass over extended periods of time using vapor phase alteration by which reaction progress of glass corrosion is accelerated to form a characteristic suite of secondary alteration phases. In this study, extensive SEM/EDS, AEM, and HRTEM have been performed on the French SON68 waste glasses which were reacted in saturated water vapor at 200 °C for 908, 1013, and 1021 days, respectively. In order to study chemistry and microstructure of surface layers, TEM specimens were prepared in cross-section using the ultramicrotomy slicing technique. In this process, small chunks containing the surface layer and a thin layer of unaltered glass were broken off from the sample surface and each of these chunks was then embedded in resin to form a block. Finally, thin sections, approximately 50-90 nm thick, were microtomed from these blocks and were transferred to holey carbon coated copper grids.